Our educator preparation community lost one of its strongest advocates for teacher quality on Friday, September 14, when Frank B. Murray passed away after a sudden illness. He was 79.

Frank played a vital role in advancing national accreditation in educator preparation. He was the founding president of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) and served as chair of its board of directors and for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). He also worked closely with AACTE as editor of The Teacher Educator’s Handbook and a leader of the Holmes Partnership. He served in various capacities on the editorial boards of several journals in developmental and educational psychology and was a fellow in the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Educational Research Association.

When asked by Education Talk Radio host Larry Jacobs about what makes their program stand out, Seidl answered, “Nationally, we all struggle to diversify the teacher workforce. But we thought about it in two ways: the first is to diversify the actual teaching pool … and the other is to make sure that [multicultural education and diversity] is really infused across all of our content and preparation.”

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the country have just concluded another successful observance of National HSIs Week, celebrated this year from September 17-23. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) joined the celebration by releasing a Resource Page dedicated to its new legislative initiative, the PK-12 and Higher Ed Collaboration. This initiative would create a new Part C under Title V of the Higher Education Act for a grant program to support partnerships and collaboration between HSIs and Hispanic-Serving School Districts (HSSDs) that educate the majority of Hispanic students.

On the Resource Page, you will also find a recently launched interactive map that shows the geographic relationship between HSIs, HSSDs, Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Emerging Hispanic-Serving School Districts. Click on this link for details on our PK-12 and Higher Education Collaboration initiative and to view our interactive maps.

AACTE has partnered with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) on the new Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers Initiative. The Initiative is a network of nine states that will connect with each other and experts in the field to receive individualized support as they address challenges to increase the racial diversity of the teacher workforce in their states. Participating states are Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, and New York. Through this work, these states hope to revise, enact or remove state policies that will address specific challenges for both diversifying the educator workforce and ensuring all educators are culturally responsive in practice by 2020.

“CCSSO is proud to launch the Diverse and Learner-Ready Teachers Initiative as we strive to better prepare all teachers to meet the needs of every learner in their classroom,” said Carissa Moffat Miller, executive director of CCSSO. “This work is firmly rooted in CCSSO’s commitment to providing an equitable education to all students.”

The new 2018 Data Quality Campaign (DQC) National Poll report shows teachers value education data and they see it as critical to effective pedagogical strategies that enhance student learning. The findings indicate 95% of teachers say they use a combination of academic and nonacademic information to understand their students’ performance. This information can range from test scores and graduation rates to attendance and classroom behavior. The poll report released on September 12 found teachers and parents trust and rely on education data as a tool to support students.

Partnerships between teachers and parents are also strengthened when student data are available. Eighty-six percent of the teacher respondents say the information helps facilitate communication with parents about their children’s performance because it gives an objective place to start conversations. Ninety-three percent of parents want data so they can help their children do their best.

The Learning First Alliance’s (LFA) newest report, “Community in Education: Bringing Businesses and Schools Together,” provides a compilation of recommendations to help foster more meaningful, real-life educational experiences for students. The report is the result of nearly 30 executives and key staff members convening to address ways to build better relationships and find common ground for advancing public education. The participants represent various sectors ranging from technology, manufacturing, and media companies to local government agencies, nonprofits, and LFA organizations.

AACTE, an LFA member organization along with 12 other national education associations, was represented by President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone, who participated in the daylong discussions that led to the published report.

As students and educators head back to school this month, there is a growing concern about school safety. One in 3 parents fear for their child’s physical safety in school, according to the 2018 PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.To help education leaders navigate disruptive and potentially traumatic events in schools, The School Superintendents Association (AASA) released in July the School Safety and Crisis Planning toolkit. The online resource features a select group of safety leaders throughout the country who are ready to provide guidance about a variety of crises that come without notice. AASA has also set up a crisis hotline that education leaders can call with questions and concerns about school safety. The 24-hour hotline gives access to mentors with experience dealing with floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and school shootings.

While most Americans have high trust and confidence in teachers, a majority also draw the line at wanting their own children to join a profession they see as undervalued and low-paid, according to a report released August 27 on the 50th annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. For the first time since 1969, a majority of respondents (54%) indicate they would not like their children to take up teaching in public schools as a career.

The start of the fall term can be an ideal time to restock supplies and gather fresh resources for the year ahead. If your work includes preparing and supporting school leaders, here are some helpful links to visit, bookmark, and share as you head back to campus.

A new study of The Wallace Foundation’s Principal Supervisor Initiative (PSI) identifies successful ways for principal supervisors’ jobs to be refocused to more effectively support principals’ instructional leadership.

Typically, principal supervisors in large, urban districts are assigned to oversee too many principals, in addition to numerous district tasks, to be able to have an impact on principals’ effectiveness as educational leaders. The PSI aimed to improve this situation by addressing five core components: (a) revising supervisors’ job description to focus on instructional leadership, (b) reducing the number of principals in each supervisor’s case load, (c) developing supervisors’ capacity so support principals, (d) developing systems to identify and train new supervisors, and (e) strengthening central office structures to support and sustain these changes.